Korean Homes That Act as Instruments, The Environment’s Role in Linguistic Evolution, Chatter in Himayalan Singing Bowls, Interrupting Psyllid Mating to Save Florida’s Orange Groves and more

Newswise — WASHINGTON, D.C., October 30, 2015 – Eavesdropping on Arctic whales, cheering in college hockey games, levitating cells to detect disease-signaling stiffness, gender equality in chickadee songs, and detecting hive health through honeybee vibrations are among the highlights of the many being made at the 170th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), held Nov. 2-6 in Jacksonville, Florida. Press releases for these sessions are currently available under embargo. Additionally, a gallery featuring lay-language versions of presented papers is available; highlights include the evolution of pianos, identifying dementia with automated speech recognition. These summaries are posted online in the ASA’s Pressroom; many contain sounds, images, and videos. The following are excerpts of selected lay-language papers. The entire collection can be found here: http://acoustics.org/current-meeting -------------------- Press Releases -------------------- 1. Eavesdropping on Bering Strait Marine Mammals 2. Fighting Citrus Greening with Vibrating Orange Groves 3. Sound Waves Levitate Cells to Detect Stiffness Changes That Could Signal Disease 4. Does Cheering Affect the Outcome of College Hockey Games? 5. Environment and Climate Helped Shape the Evolution of Human Languages 6. Why’s There Chatter in My Himalayan Singing Bowl? 7. Korea’s ‘Hanoks’ Display Acoustic Excellence 8. Vibrating Bees Tell the State of the Hive 9. Researchers Reveal Acoustic Complexity of Chickadee Songs 1. Eavesdropping on Bering Strait Marine Mammals"One way to monitor impacts to the ecosystem is by observing the changes in occurrence or distribution of sea birds and marine mammals…a team of researchers is listening to the sounds made by marine mammals within the Arctic to monitor their presence year round." www.newswise.com/articles/eavesdropping-on-bering-strait-marine-mammalsPHOTOS AND AUDIO CLIPS of marine mammal sounds are available. 2. Fighting Citrus Greening with Vibrating Orange Groves"To halt the spread of the disease - which was responsible for an estimated $3.63 billion in lost revenue from orange juice for the state of Florida from 2006 – 2012 - researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and University of Florida (UF) are developing vibration traps that hijack psyllid mating calls to locally bring their populations under control." http://www.newswise.com/articles/fighting-citrus-greening-with-vibrating-orange-grovesA PHOTO of a prototype vibrating mimetic device is available. 3. Sound Waves Levitate Cells to Detect Stiffness Changes That Could Signal Disease"With a few key changes, the Utah Valley University researchers used a noninvasive ultrasonic technique originally developed to detect microscopic flaws in solid fuel rockets, such as space shuttle boosters, to successfully detect cell stiffness changes associated with certain cancers and other diseases.” http://www.newswise.com/articles/sound-waves-levitate-cells-to-detect-stiffness-changes-that-could-signal-diseaseA PHOTO of the levitated cells is available. 4. Does Cheering Affect the Outcome of College Hockey Games?"We all love belting our lungs out at sporting event, hurling insults and encouragements in turn, but does it actually have an effect on either team’s performance? A study conducted by a student at the University of Nebraska seeks to answer this question.” http://www.newswise.com/articles/does-cheering-affect-the-outcome-of-college-hockey-games 5. Environment and Climate Helped Shape the Evolution of Human Languages"The researchers, who hail from the University of New Mexico and Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage-CNRS, France, have conducted an extensive study to examine the relationship between the sound structure of a worldwide sample of human languages and climatic and ecological factors including temperature, precipitation, vegetation and geomorphology." http://www.newswise.com/articles/does-cheering-affect-the-outcome-of-college-hockey-games

6. Why’s There Chatter in My Himalayan Singing Bowl?"While the complex stick-slip motions responsible for “chatter,” or rapid knocking sounds, have been extensively studied in other instruments, few studies have investigated this action in the Himalayan singing bowl."http://www.newswise.com/articles/why-s-there-chatter-in-my-himalayan-singing-bowlIMAGES of the bowls being subjected to high-speed electronic speckle pattern interoferometry are available 7. Korea’s ‘Hanoks’ Display Acoustic Excellence"Concerts held within Hanoks are popular tourist attractions in Korea, and when a team of researchers from Soongsil University in Seoul discovered this, they set out to explore whether the homes’ excellent acoustics stem from their architectural structure as well as materials." http://www.newswise.com/articles/korea-s-hanoks-display-acoustic-excellenceIMAGES of instruments being played in Hanok homes are available 8. Vibrating Bees Tell the State of the Hive"It takes a trained eye to detect the signals of an impending swarm, and opening up a hive to check the status often disturbs the bees. Bencsik and his colleagues inserted accelerometers into hives to test if they could remotely pick up vibration signals -- which might indicate swarming or other types of activities.” http://www.newswise.com/articles/vibrating-bees-tell-the-state-of-the-hiveIMAGES of accelerometers embedded in honeybee hives are available – the bees don’t seem to mind at all! 9. Researchers Reveal Acoustic Complexity of Chickadee Songs"Female black-capped chickadees do sing, and, Hahn and Sturdy have found, their songs are acoustically distinct from the songs of their male counterparts. What’s more, the researchers say, both male and female birds can tell apart the songs of the two sexes." http://www.newswise.com/articles/researchers-reveal-acoustic-complexity-of-chickadee-songsSONGBIRD AUDIO and PHOTOS are available with this story. ---------------------------------------- Lay-language Paper Highlights ---------------------------------------- 1. Evolution of the piano 2. Using Automatic Speech Recognition to Identify Dementia in Early Stages 3. Long-lasting suppression of spontaneous firing in inferior colliculus neurons: implications to the residual inhibition of tinnitus 1. Evolution of the piano“The piano was invented 300 years ago by Bartolomeo Cristofori, who in his “day job” was responsible for the instruments owned by the famous Medici family in Florence, Italy. Many of those instruments were harpsichords, and the first pianos were very similar to harpsichords with one crucial difference…” SOUND CLIPS AND IMAGES AVAILABLE http://acoustics.org/4pmu5-evolution-of-the-piano-nicholas-giordano/

2. Using Automatic Speech Recognition to Identify Dementia in Early Stages“Computerized analysis of speech signals and computational linguistics (analysis of word patterns) have progressed to the point where an automatic speech analysis system could be within reach as a tool for detection of dementia. The long-term goal is an inexpensive, short duration, non-invasive test for dementia; one that can be administered in an office or home by clinicians with minimal training.” AUDIO AND SAMPLE DIAGNOSTIC IMAGES AVAILABLE http://acoustics.org/2asp5-using-automatic-speech-recognition-to-identify-dementia-in-early-stages-roozbeh-sadeghian-j-david-schaffer-and-stephen-a-zahorian/

3. Long-lasting suppression of spontaneous firing in inferior colliculus neurons: implications to the residual inhibition of tinnitus“After presenting a sound to a normal hearing animal, we observed a phenomenon where firing activity of auditory neurons is suppressed. There are several striking similarities between this suppression in the normal auditory system and residual inhibition observed in tinnitus patients.” http://acoustics.org/1pab6-long-lasting-suppression-of-spontaneous-firing-in-inferior-colliculus-neurons-implication-to-the-residual-inhibition-of-tinnitus-a-v-galazyuk/

ABOUT THE MEETING

The 170th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) will be held Nov. 2-6, 2015, at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront Hotel. It will feature more than 700 presentations on sound and its applications in physics, engineering, music, architecture and medicine. Reporters are invited to cover the meeting remotely or attend in person for free. PRESS REGISTRATION

We will grant free registration to credentialed journalists and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend, contact John Arnst ([email protected], 301-209-3096) who can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information. USEFUL LINKS

Main meeting website: http://acousticalsociety.org/content/fall-2015-meetingItinerary planner and technical program:https://asa2015fall.abstractcentral.com/planner.jspHotel site: https://aws.passkey.com/g/20066992 WORLD WIDE PRESS ROOM

In the coming weeks, ASA’s World Wide Press Room will be updated with additional tips on dozens of newsworthy stories and with lay-language papers, which are 300-1200 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience and accompanied by photos, audio, and video. You can visit the site, beginning in late October, at http://acoustics.org/current-meeting. LIVE MEDIA WEBCAST

A press briefing featuring a selection of newsworthy research will be webcast live from the conference on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Topics and time of webcast to be announced. To register, visit www.aipwebcasting.com. ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world's leading journal on acoustics), Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. For more information about ASA, visit our website at http://www.acousticalsociety.org.